Many years ago, in a village lived a Brahmin with his wife and four children. The Brahmin was of priest class who worshipped gods and goddesses for his patrons and received some amount of rice and coins for that. But nobody worships gods every day, neither they have rituals for birth, wedding or death every day. Hence the Brahmin remained poor – so poor that he and his family had to fast frequently; neither had they had good cloths nor a proper home. His wife rebuked him for being unable to provide for the family, but he could not change the situation. However, he was a strong believer. Not even a day he failed to worship them in own broken hut. Even if he slept empty stomach, he never gave a miss to his morning prayer. Whenever he moved out of home, he chanted, “Durga Durga.” Whenever his wife’s anger became unbearable, he recited, “Shiva, Shiva.” Personally he was an worshipper of Shiva and Durga, the father god and mother goddess.
One day, the Brahmin felt so helpless for being unable to earn a handful of rice for several days, he left home and started walking to an unknown destination. He walked and walked, and by noon, he reached a dense forest. He thought that the forest must be inhabited by some Rakshas who would kill him. To sacrifice own life, he entered the forest, sat under a large tree and kept on waiting while saying his last prayer to his beloved gos and goddess, “O father Shiva, O mother Durga – through my entire life I have chanted you names. In your name I did my priestly duties but was not able to provide enough for my family. What is the use of a worthless man like me? Let a Rakshas eat me, while I take your name till my last moment.” – bitter tears rolling down from his eyes washed his face.
The forest was actually the garden of Shiva and Durga. Deep inside the forest, they had their hut surrounded by beautiful flower-gardens and clear streams. From their hut they could hear the devoted Brahmin wailing. Mother Durga said, “O my Lord of the world! Are you listening to the poor Brahmin? He is spending life though such a distress but never forgot to chant our names. Cannot we do something for this poor man that his life becomes comfortable?” Father Shiva replied, “Of course we can do. Why don’t you offer him your one of your earthen pots that will keep his family free from hunger?” The Mother rejoiced at this proposition. Immediately she brought the earthen pot from her chest. Taking the pot, the Father went to the wailing Brahmin and said, “O dear Brahmin, wipe you tears. Take this mudki handi which will provide you and your family an inexhaustible supply of food. Whenever you are hungry, turn the handi upside down and shake it. It will shower delicious mudki till you set it again in proper position. You can have the finest mudki of the world as much as you want. By the power of the goddess, the supply will be never ending, so you can sell the extra amount too.” –Keeping the earthen pot on the perplexed Brahmin’s stretched hands, he disappeared. The delighted poor man, still stuck in surprise got up and started walking back home with that handi.
Though walking in quick steps, the Brahmin was not sure if he had met the God or had only a dream. He looked at the earthen pot–it looked like a common earthen pot. He wanted to check it. Sitting under a tree he held the pot upside down. Stunning him, floral scented Mudki started raining from it, and made a heap on the ground. Delighted Brahmin quickly turned the pot upright. He had never tasted that kind of delectable mudki before. He remembered he should not eat the daily meal without his rituals of thanking the gods. Hence wrapping the mudki in the corner of the cloth he was wearing, he started walking again, as fast as he could. On the way, he saw an inn which had a pond behind. He requested the inn-keeper again and again to keep the Handi safely and went to bathe in that pond before offering his pre-meal ablutions.
The innkeeper was astonished seeing such a care for a common earthen pot. He thought of checking it – opened the mouth, found it to be empty. More curious he turned it upside down and then, almost jumped in surprise – mudki carrying a divine flavour flowing out from an earthen pot! He called his wife as loud as possible, and ordered her to bring all big vessels in their home as soon as she rushed in.
They filled all the vessels. The innkeeper said, “Why should I give this magic handi back to that fool? A poor Brahmin is not worth this treasure.” “Bring an earthen handi of same size and look to replace it!” The greedy wife ran into the home and brought it within moment, without uttering a word. The entire family was joyous seeing the fortune walking their way. In the meantime, the Brahmin took bath, offered prayers to the gods and ate the mudki he was carrying. Fresh and strong, he returned to the innkeeper and asked for the handi. The gleeful innkeeper politely handed him the dummy earthen vessel and the unsuspecting Brahmin took it gently, thanking the cheat for his carefulness.
Entering his broken hut, the Brahmin cheerfully described the story to his wife, who was weeping helplessly inside the hut, four hungry children sitting around her. All were tired of fasting and on top of that worried for the Brahmin whom they did not see since morning. Seeing him, they were relieved, but none found the story convincing. The wife slapped her forehead, “O god! Why did you punish me so hard? Now that my man has gone mad due to poverty and hunger, how shall I take care of the family alone?” The smiling Brahmin tried to comfort her, then brought a vessel himself and turned the handi to pour mudki in the vessel. At his astonishment, he saw nothing coming out from the earthen pot, he shook it couple of times, tuned the pot upright, then turned again, but nothing worked the way it was supposed to. The wife and children looked at him dismayed and the Brahmin realized how he was cheated by the innkeeper. Without wasting time, he ran the whole distance again to reach the inn. Before the charging Brahmin, the innkeeper first acted innocent, then mocked at him for being a poor fool and then threw him out of the inn by force.
The poor Brahmin had no other go but to back to the place he met the God. Only Shiva the protector of the world could save him from the world’s treachery. Seeing him crying profusely, both Shiva and Durga’s hearts melted. The goddess gave him another handi, but did not utter much about it; only said, “This will be of your help now.” The obliged Brahmin chanted Mantras in praise of the gods once again before leaving the forest.
He was unsure about the quality of the Handi this time. So he sat below the large tree once again and turned it like before. Three large mens came out of it with equally large sticks in hand and started beating him mercilessly. The intelligent Brahmin quickly turned it right; otherwise he could have been killed that day. As soon as those demons vanished inside the handi, he got up and walked towards the inn. Reaching there he gave it to the keeper like before, saying, “Think I have done a mistake charging you, I found the divine handi at the roadside. It was my fault that I forgot it there. Please keep it carefully.” The very glad keeper went inside with it and the Brahmin left for a bath. “Bring bigger vessels and a replacement pot quickly – the fool brought another magic handi. May be it will yield Sandesh this time!” –He screamed. His wife came running, behind her the children. Now it was his time to turn the handi -Hoa! The moment he did, a group of large muscular men jumped out of it and started beating them without a break. By the time the Brahmin returned taking bath, their bones were broken and the hairs were gone! Still being beaten up, the keeper, his wife and children jumped at his feet, praying to save their lives. The Brahmin turned the Handi to get the musclemen get into it. With broken bones, the keeper somehow stood up and brought the Handi of mudki back, crying profusely, begging for his forgiveness again and again. The happy Brahmin kept a vessel full of mudki for them too before leaving with those two vessels.
Thus Shiva and Durga helped their sincere devotee to come out of poverty. Whenever children felt hungry, the Brahmin’s wife turned the handi. The Brahmin did not expect others to seek his help for rituals any longer. On contrary he opened a shop in one corner of his broken hut. Once every day he turned the handi and pore sacks of mudki and sold that. Once one villager bought that mudki from him, he did not buy it from anywhere else. Within days, all villagers started buying it from him. None in the village or the neighbouring villages had seen that kind of mudki before. Those were white and perfumed as jasmine flowers, sweet as condenced milk, each morsel as large as a berry. In next few months, the once poor Brahmin had a large new shop, and then a large new home. Though busy with new profession, earning money and living a comfortable life, the Brahmin did not forget his daily ritual of prayers, offering ablutions to gods and chanting the names of Shivdurga. Whenever touched the pot for pouring mudki, he recited, “Durga Durga”. Whenever someone mentioned the divine taste of his mudki, he uttered, “Shiva, Shiva,”
Everything was going fine until a day the children became curious about the other handi, which their father locked in a room. The Brahmin was busy in shop and his wife in the kitchen when the children unlocked the room, unpacked the handi and turned it upside down. Within a blink came out four demonic men and began beating the children. The children’s loud cry reached the Brahmins in the shop. Assuming what could have happened, he hurried inside home and saved the children by turning the handi right. He too had received couple of blows before that. Taking the name of the divine couple, he locked the room with two keys and kept the keys with him to prevent the children from committing the mischief again. Also the children did not want to play with the same handi.
Brahmin was being richer by selling mudki to hundreds of people. The family should have been spent a happy life forever. But no, fate is something that disturbs happiness quite often. One day, after a hectic day, as the Brahmin was sleeping in his room, the children planned to have some mudki fresh from the handi and without asking their parents for help. Four of them entered the room and tried to turn it down together. It slipped from their hands, fell on the stone floor and broke into pieces. The sound of its breaking woke up the Brahmin. He came running into the room, to find tiny pieces of the handi scattered on the floor and four guilty children trembling in fear. Understanding what had happened, he could not rebuke the children. Clutching own head, he sat on the floor without a clue how he would look after his family. He blamed himself for not being more cautious, not keeping the handi that was only source of income for his family, locked. He remembered Shiva and Durga, the divine couple who had helped him to live a descent life.
He went to the forest once again and began meditating. As Shiva and Durga appeared before him, he stated what mistake he had done by not keeping the handi locked and how his children had broken it. Durga said, “Well, I will help you once again, but only once. If this time you do another mistake, I won’t be able to save you again.” She handed her another pot, similar to the previous two. This time the Brahmin returned home directly, without stopping anywhere, and reaching home, he locked the handi out of everyone’s reach.
In the middle of the night, when the children fell asleep, the husband and wife opened the handi and turned upside down. What a wonder! This time it rained Sandesh from it, large, soft as cotton, creamy as butter, and heavenly in taste.
Following morning onwards, the Brahmin transformed into a sandesh seller. Thousands of people from the villages and nearby cities thronged his shop – nobody in the world could produce such a tasty Sandesh. The once poor man became very rich. In course of time, one neighbour came to know the secret of his sandesh. He revealed it to another and another to another – the news reached to the zamindar. The zamindar called him to know the truth. The honest Brahmin spoke the truth. Now the zamindar’s greed grew like fire. He too wanted to be very rich selling Sandesh. He told the Brahmin to give him the magic pot. The Brahmin politely denied, The zamindar called his sentry to lock the Brahmin. Seeing no way to get relief, the Brahmin agreed to bring the handi from home.
He carried not one, but two handis. Reaching Zamindars place, he showed both. The greedy Zamindar thought he got both the pots of mudki and sandesh, and ordered him to show how those work. The Brahmin turned one of them. A platoon of armed muscular men came out and began beating everyone. The Zamindar tried to run away, but they chased him till his inner compartment and started beating. Badly bruised and broken, the Zamindar and his courtiers asked for the owner forgiveness. After all, they could not save their lives otherwise. The Brahmin took the men back into the pot and returned home with both the pots. None disturbed him again. By the boon of Shiva and Durga, the family remained rich and happy forever.
*mudki – a kind of Bengali puffed rice, coated with
flavored jiggery
*handi – Indian cooking vessel of a particular shape
*sandesh – sweet made of milk or cocoanut, popular in Bengal and Odisha in Eastern part of India.
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